How Important is the Bingo Caller?

His job may not be easy but we need him. There may be times when he may need to wear a bullet proof vest but we love him. Who is he? He's a bingo caller.

There has been some talk about bingo callers being eliminated in some land based bingo halls. Some are introducing automated voices to call out the numbers. Can you imagine such a thing? It does take a certain type of person to handle the pressures of spouting out our numbers and oh he had better do it right.

In my bingo club, they have already eliminated the live caller from the side games. The special numbers are called by a computerized voice. There is automation online and when we play online bingo we trade one thing for another. We have the convenience factor of playing our favorite game from home yet we lose the element of a live bingo caller.

There are pros and cons to automation I suppose. Without the use of a bingo caller, there are fewer errors. No human, no human error. Think about it. When you're at a bingo hall dabbing away, there is no room for mistakes. When the caller calls out the wrong number most players dab it without looking. Then you have a big ink mark on your page and it can get confusing. I've played in bingo games with a caller that made a minimum of three mistaken calls per session and the players were brutal. They screamed things like 'c'mon it's your only job' and 'get your eyes checked'. I swear he wanted to crawl under the podium by the time I, err um, they got done with him.

Being a bingo caller is an important job that requires a thick skin. Bingo players take the game very seriously and with cash prizes at stake, there is bound to be some tempers flaring. Who would we take our frustration out on if there were no caller? We certainly don't need any player on player violence. Just imagine the chaos of players rolling in the isles.

Our bingo callers are important and we need them alive so be good to him!